THE FASTEST FLIGHT IN NATURE: Set to the joyful crescendo of Verdi’s Anvil Chorus.

• High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms among Fungi: The fungus Pilobolus kleinii, lives a shitty life. Literally growing on dung, it must fling its spores as far out as possible to land on fresh grass where it can get eaten by a herbivore to complete its life cycle.

• Researchers used ultra-high-speed video cameras running at maximum frame rates of 250,000 fps to analyze the launch process. Launch speeds ranged from 2 to 25 m s−1 and corresponding accelerations of 20,000 to 180,000 g propelled spores over distances of up to 2.5 meters.

• Squirt Guns: Spores sit atop long fluid filled stalks that are pressurized by osmosis. Hydrostatic pressure was generated by the combined osmolality of sugar alcohols and inorganic ions. Up to 100 mM of these osmolytes generate a turgor pressure of0.44 MPa or 4.4 atm. These are not unusual pressures for fungi, but the remarkable engineering ensures controlled and rapid rupture of the pressurized squirt guns that allow the nearly instantaneous release of energy and discharge of the spores.

• This video shows a montage of the fungus's amazing launches set to Verdi's Anvil Chorus.

+Rajini Rao This reminds me of something a park ranger in the Everglades said about the invasive Melaleuca, or Australian tea tree, that was introduced in the last century to help "drain the swamp". Attempts to burn the trees out only provoke Melaleucas to release their seeds. Actually, any stress - from fire to cutting to spraying pesticides - provokes the release of millions of seeds. An almost intelligent act of parents protecting their offspring.

Since you omitted to provide a reference (tsk, +Peter Lindelauf :), I found this: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_other/rmrs_2006_robinson_d001.pdf . In it, they reference one Hawksworth who made the estimates for initial velocity of mistletoe seeds from simulations done in the late 50's and early 60's. But, thanks for bringing up ballistic seed dispersal by plants which is pretty amazing! The mechanism depends on dessication of the seed pod, the antithesis of the water-propelled flight of the fungal spores. I found this gem that you may enjoy: For sheer ballistic verve, we look to another tropical plant, one that is also cultivated in South Florida.It is Hura crepitans, the sandbox tree of the Euphorbiaceae.It has capsules the size and shape of tangerines.Each fruit has many segments, just as does a tangerine, and each fruit segment contains a seed the size of a nickel.When the fruits burst open, they shoot their seeds nearly 150 feet,accompanied by an explosive noise that is said to sound like the discharge of a rifle!This article was an interesting read for more dramatics: http://www.virtualherbarium.org/GardenViews/GoingBallistic.html﻿

Ha, made my day and, to me, you're without peer, +Rajini Rao. As well, late every night I take our pup, Patchy, on his rounds to pee on his favorite bushes in the front yard--the same bushes the poodles next door come into our yard to pee on. From now on, I'm going to call it Patchy's peer review.﻿

Now, if only you could post a pix of Patchy and the bushes when you have a chance, +Peter Lindelauf , I will be forever armed with, and protected by humor, the next time I am assaulted by the Peer Review Club (using both meanings of the word club). Not necessary to show him in action, I hasten to add.﻿

You've got a deal. I'll try to get a photo. I've never seen a male dog lift his leg as high as Patchy does. If most dogs pee with leg a bit lower than 90 degrees, he's got to be at about 135 degrees. It must let him aim higher because the dogs next door are big Standard Poodles--or French War Dogs. Now you've got me going...Next time he pees, I'm going to prune off the tip of the branch and put it well above Standard Poodle height. That'll drive those poodles nuts...A biased pee'r review.﻿

Ha, Rajini. I'm still laughin'. Was saying to a friend just yesterday, if you're going to be off-topic, do so gloriously. I had to check up top to refresh my memory of what this post was originally about.﻿

There was a post this morning about someone ranting about going off topic. I must be lucky with the people in my circles because I (so far) have not been annoyed when my posts drift; boy can they drift.﻿

Thanks, i was looking through my mail trying to find that other topic where you mentioned Terrance McKenna and see all this, so i had to throw a PF reference in. Unfortunately I have been pretty swamped at work or I'd be contributing more to the off topic comments..although i think +Chad Haney & +Feisal Kamil are just as/if not more guilty of that title...Like Chad was saying that is what i like about the community here...﻿

Rajini- again, fascinating aspect of our world..I'm particularly interested in the natural engineering that allows not only the spore to survive these accelerations and airodynamic forces, but the strength of the structure of the propelling apparatus. Just amazing, thank you.﻿